CHICAGO, Oct. 23, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "Four of our last six presidents are former governors. This should make a lot of sense," says Dr. Ronald R. Pollina, Chairman of the American Economic Development Institute (AEDI) and President of Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. "Governors have had an opportunity to show Americans how they can perform as a leader of a major governmental body and most importantly, create jobs."
AEDI and Pollina Corporate co-publish the Top 10 Pro-Business States study, which is recognized as the "Gold Standard" for evaluating the pro-business status of each state and considered the most comprehensive study of all 50 states because it evaluates 32 of the most important economic factors controlled by each state.
Since jobs are so important to the U.S. economy, Democrats and Republicans need to look past candidates whose primary skills are fundraising from lobbyists and looking photogenic at speeches and instead focus on leaders who actually can create jobs in a tough global economy.
"A good start might be for voters to consider governors of the Top 10 Pro-Business States," Pollina explains. "The Top 10 States averaged a 5.6 percent unemployment rate, well below the current national average of 7.8 percent. In terms of budget deficits, the Top 10 states average shortfall as a percent of their general funds is 2.1 percent, well below the national average of 9.5 percent. "
Governors of the Top 10 states in descending order are Gary R. Herbert (Utah), Dave Heineman (Nebraska), Jack Dalrymple (North Dakota), Bob McDonnell (Virginia), Matt Mead (Wyoming), Sam Brownback (Kansas), Mike Pence (Indiana), Dennis Daugaard (South Dakota), Jay Nixon (Missouri) and Robert Bentley (Alabama).
It is important to note that until 2010 Virginia was fortunate to have Mark Warner (2002 -2006) and Tim Kane (2006 – 2010) as governor. During their terms from 2004 (first Top 10 study) through 2010, Virginia held the #1 position five out of ten years and only dropped to #3 once in 2008 and then to # 4 this year. This was the single best run of any state in the ten years that the study has been conducted.
In terms of a state that has shown the greatest progress in recent years, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana brought his state from #40 in 2008 to #14 in 2013. This 26-place leap is the greatest any state has ever achieved. All of these governors are proven performers.
"In the last Olympics, athletes selected to represent the United States endured an extremely difficult vetting. This process is based on performance, not on how much money they could raise from sponsors, nor on their stage presence," Dr. Pollina says. "The nation needs a President whose number one priority is to turn the national economy around, not one whose priority is raising campaign contributions and subsequently bowing to the will of special interests."